Berlin, Germany is a family-friendly city with lots of activities for families with children of all ages. After living there for 18 months, Berlin is still one of our favorite cites and we always enjoyed spending quality family time while exploring this remarkably fun city. I travel a lot for business and I enjoy bringing my family with me whenever I can. It becomes a family vacation with opportunities to do all kinds of interesting things!
Berlin offers plenty of fun for children of all … [Read more...]

From time to time, I get interesting emails from readers like you. Sometimes they're about recipes found here on No Ordinary Homestead. And sometimes they're questions about getting a visa to live in Germany (which I really know very little about). And other times, they're a question like the following which makes me sit down and think.
We bought our farmhouse in Germany in 2006 and moved to Berlin 2012. We sold the farmhouse the following year (after it being on the market for a while … [Read more...]

Today's post makes me a bit melancholy for the wonderful city of Berlin. Sooner rather than later we need to go back for a visit -- but only when it's summer!
Germany’s capital offers a wealth of activities and sightseeing options, making it the ideal choice for a family vacation. Berlin city breaks fill your trip with immense parks, plenty of museums and city tours that the entire family will enjoy.
Explore an island
This city has its fair share of beautiful parks and … [Read more...]

As Christmas draws ever closer and the advent season begins, I have to think of Germany and the amazing Christmas markets it hosts in the weeks leading up to Christmas. With over 60 markets all over Berlin, we had the opportunity to visit many beautiful Christmas markets last year. And although we have festivals and tons of Christmas lights here in Florida, it will never be quite the same.
One of the Christmas markets in Berlin that we really enjoyed visiting takes place along Ku'Damm and in … [Read more...]

There are so many places to explore and things to do in Berlin...and one of the great adult activities to take part in is happy hour! To be honest, there are tons of places that have happy hour in Berlin, and especially in our area near Nollendorfplatz. So are worth heading out to early. And other places don't offer one at all. But you can rest assured that if the drinks are expensive in any of the bars below, they will be expertly mixed and totally delicious!
Here are a few of the bars we … [Read more...]

One of the great things about living in Berlin is that there is always something great going on. But many of events and really special places you might never hear about because they are very "underground" and get their popularity because of word of mouth advertising. During our fourteen months in Berlin, not only did we find a bunch of restaurants we loved in Schöneberg, but we also had the opportunity to visit a lot of really cool places that are a bit more off the beaten path. And now I'm glad … [Read more...]

A little over a year ago, after just 8 weeks here in Berlin, we had done enough exploring in our "Kiez" to know what restaurants and bars were awesome and what was just ok. And I first wrote a post about 5 places we loved to visit in our neighborhood.
Meanwhile we have done a lot more exploring in our area and have found a lot of additional places to "haunt" -- and since this our last week here in Berlin, I thought it was time to pass on some of the knowledge.
Although there will always be … [Read more...]

This is part two of 24 Hours in Berlin series, a sample itinerary I would give someone who has never been to Berlin but wants to pack in as much of they can from the city in a limited amount of time. It allows you to see the most well-known and notable sights of Berlin like the Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island, Alexanderplatz, Prenzlauerberg, Kreuzberg, Schöneberg, shopping...and, of course, currywurst. There's so much to see and do here that it's hard to pack everything into just one day and … [Read more...]

I've been getting more and more emails and tweets lately from people who will be taking a trip to Berlin, but only have one day and night to spare in this amazing city. So I thought it was time to put together a post with some must see and do places -- and even put together an example itinerary.
This is part one of a sample itinerary (find part two of things to do in Berlin here) I would give someone who has never been to Berlin but wants to pack in as much of they can from the city in a … [Read more...]

Last Saturday, we had the opportunity to participate in something that was completely new and fantastic for us. We've hosted many parties in the past, but nothing quite like this.
You see, a friend of mine here has a supper club just down the street called Festin. And she recently asked if Stefan and I would be interested in working with her to host an evening.
In case you aren't familiar with the concept of supper clubs, they are basically underground restaurants. They are usually … [Read more...]

House & Home

If you have never gone out to buy a security system for your home before, you probably don’t know what you’re looking for. Nothing is worse than needing something but having no idea what that … [Read More...]